Necromancer!
I'll have to go back to the beginning and start again.
Good to see you back in action
I'll have to go back to the beginning and start again.
Good to see you back in action
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PrawnStar - hey, nobody ever said this was dead!
Starting reading over might be a tad difficult, as some of the images seem to have vanished, unfortunately. I've now changed the image hoster to Photobucket, so the new updates shouldn't be prone to that problem. Unfortunately, I've deleted the old images, so I can't get them back to the old updates. Nice to see you here as well!
RGB - not that the current competition in EU2 AARs is anywhere near high. But thanks a lot, mate! I have to get back to reading your Russian AAR, I've stopped when you stopped updating all that long time ago.
Starting reading over might be a tad difficult, as some of the images seem to have vanished, unfortunately
. I've now changed the image hoster to Photobucket, so the new updates shouldn't be prone to that problem. Unfortunately, I've deleted the old images, so I can't get them back to the old updates. Nice to see you here as well!RGB - not that the current competition in EU2 AARs is anywhere near high
. But thanks a lot, mate! I have to get back to reading your Russian AAR, I've stopped when you stopped updating all that long time ago.
Whoohoo!
Pomerania is back!...and perhaps kicking papist ass?
TheExecuter
Was that grammatically correct? Hmm...
Pomerania is back!...and perhaps kicking papist ass?
TheExecuter
Was that grammatically correct? Hmm...
TheExecuter - it was, I don't see a problem . The asskicking part is most certainly true, as you shall see.
Don Matito - good to see you're reading again, sir!
Update Wednesday!
. The asskicking part is most certainly true, as you shall see.Don Matito - good to see you're reading again, sir!
Update Wednesday!
Nice, this is back? And starting with the Thirty Years' War no less. Its just the life that this poor sub-forum needs. Go take some "B" out of the BWB.
A bit of an ahistorical TYW, but still one, most certainly. Of course, taken in game terms; but it will nonetheless be a streak of conflicts with the catholics.
Indeed, this subforum is dying out; that's really sad. I hope to breathe some fresh-ish air into it with reactivating this AAR. Glad to have the whole old guard back here!
Indeed, this subforum is dying out; that's really sad. I hope to breathe some fresh-ish air into it with reactivating this AAR. Glad to have the whole old guard back here!
Big White... Not Quite.
The protestant (mostly Swedish, and under the command of the Swedish king) forces in northern headed first towards Meissen - the most vulnerable member of the Lübeck Coalition. The Saxon lands were very wealthy, and moreover, due to lying the most to the south, exposed to an attack by the Habsburg forces. This first field of battle was a good choice - indeed, the huge Habsburg armies were all directed towards the city of Dresden. Together with the allied troops of the Archbishopric of Cologne, they lay siege to the city walls, some 30'000 of them. Thankfully, Gustav Adolf's relief army was underway, and was able to quickly rout the enemy regiments. The battle of Dresden was a show of the king's military skill as well as his recklessness - he led the front line of a cavalry charge, a few times being in great danger himself.
For the next battles, Gustav was much better prepared: he set up a fortified camp a few miles southwest of Dresden, near the main road to Freiburg, Chemnitz, and later, Weimar (in Thüringen, under Habsburg occupation); the only one leading to the city from the part of central Germany where the catholics were gathering their armies. The two consecutive battles, fought against the badly-timed reinforcements, were quick successes for the Swedish king as well. Thus, the first half of the year 1615 was gone, and the protestant main force started to prepare for a general offensive in central Germany.
In the meantime, smaller armies - a Pomeranian one under the king Bogusław XIII, and a Saxon one (from the Margraviate of Saxony, a Pomeranian vassal, not to be confused with the Electorate in Dresden), entered, unopposed, Habsburg-held Bohemia: they laid siege to the fortresses in the mountain passes of Sudeten. The Saxons withdrew due to having too few cannons at their disposal, but Bogusław took the city Hradec Kralove and it's surroundings and proceeded towards Šumava region. At that time, the Bohemians under Valdštejn (Wallenstein) were operating in Franconia, with the ultimate aim being München in Bavaria.
The preparations for a grand offensive lasted some 5 months, and finally, in the end of December 1615, Gustav's army was directed into Thüringen, where they encountered another large Imperial force, sized almost equally to his own (some 48'000 men on each side). The battle that took place in the last days of January 1616, outside Weimar, was a big success for the protestants: despite significant (another 16'000) reinforcements arriving on time for the Habsburg army, it was decimated and routed. Afterwards, it was withdrawn into Austria proper and nothing was heard of it until October 1616, when it took by surprize (however reduced in size to 25'000 men) the army of Bogusław XIII, who had been laying siege to Bratislava in Slovakia.
The siege of Weimar, conducted by Gustav Adolf, ended after a few assaults in June 1616. The Swedes under Pomeranian banners then moved towards Westphalia, ruled by the Archbishop of Cologne. Münster region was to be taken first, then Kleve, Köln, Westfalen and Oberhessen. All resistance by the demoralized armies of the greedy Archbishop were easily destroyed, and the sieges of the well-fortified cities could progress without problems.
Seeing the quite successful course of the war, Gustav Adolf as well as the Bohemians demanded of Bogusław the fulfillment of the agreement from Lübeck. In accordance to it, all Bohemian lands liberated from Austria were handed over to the Czechs (February 1617), and, some time earlier, Swedish forces under Gustav's brilliant generals entered Danish-held Skåne and Bohuslän, thus starting another war against the Danes. Soon afterwards, a separate peace agreement was signed with the Habsburg emissaries in Praha: on April 11, 1617 they ceded all territory dominated by the Czechs to Bohemia. The Pomeranian forces, thus freed from their southern front, were then sent to Scandinavia, in a gesture towards Gustav Adolf, whose army remained in Westfalen in order to finish off the far too rich in lands Archbishop of Cologne.
***
I hope this isn't coo chaotically written; I didn't know how to describe the action on each front, and I really hate the schoolbook style of completely disregarding everything else while discussing a certain campaign, for example. Therefore, I decided to explain everything chronologically
.I hope you'll enjoy it.
With the Swedes working on my own behalf and under my command, yes . It seems that either the Habsburgs got out of their civil wars really weakened or giving myself a large army with a 6-7-6 leader was a bit too exploitish. But we can always do something about that later...
. It seems that either the Habsburgs got out of their civil wars really weakened or giving myself a large army with a 6-7-6 leader was a bit too exploitish. But we can always do something about that later...
Hey, you gotta think of your friends once in a while... especially if its at the expense of Austria.
Prague is working fast these days... how long will that reckonnation last we'll see later.
Why you didn't added Slovakia for the Czech's?
Why you didn't added Slovakia for the Czech's?
Brian Roastbeef - precisely!
Plus, I don't like taking for myself provinces that are wrong culture, especially in a situation when my inflation is above 10% and I can't do too much to fight it.
M4 Emperior - 1. neither I nor the Czechs besieged Slovakia, and the Habsburgs didn't offer it, 2. the story was about helping the protestant Czechs, right?
Plus, I don't like taking for myself provinces that are wrong culture, especially in a situation when my inflation is above 10% and I can't do too much to fight it.
M4 Emperior - 1. neither I nor the Czechs besieged Slovakia, and the Habsburgs didn't offer it, 2. the story was about helping the protestant Czechs, right?
See the penultimate screenshot, to the right there's a Pomeranian force assembling in southern Sweden.
As those of you who browse the AAR General Discussion forum regularly have certainly noticed, my this piece is recently (and for the second time in it's history, mind you!) being showcased - of which I am very proud .
Leaving pride aside, just a notification: having been busy for the last few days earning my EUR 120 as a staff member at one conference in Krakow, I am now back to my vacations, which means a new update is going to be here soon - tomorrow or Saturday (Friday I'm away from home all day), depending on when I have more time etc. to write.
Cheers!
.Leaving pride aside, just a notification: having been busy for the last few days earning my EUR 120 as a staff member at one conference in Krakow, I am now back to my vacations, which means a new update is going to be here soon - tomorrow or Saturday (Friday I'm away from home all day), depending on when I have more time etc. to write
.Cheers!
...
The Pomeranian forces that landed in Skane (which already had been taken control of by the Swedes) weren't really necessary there - Swedish generals were clearly masters of the situation in Scandinavia, with fortress after fortress, city after city falling into their hands. The largest Danish army consisted of some 12'000 men and was threatening Oslo - and it was there that Bogusław XIII directed his troops. In the battle that ensued the Danes were crushed, unprepared to face a relief force, especially a numerically superior to them: only some 3'000 of them were able to flee, the rest was killed, wounded or imprisoned. The ageing Bogusław thus once more showed off his military prowess and skill, losing only a thousand of his soldiers.
In the course of the year 1618, news came of Bohemia annexing the lands of Bavaria into their realm - Albrecht von Valdštejn claimed it his personal fief, only loosely dependent from the crown. Later the same year came a peace offer from København. Christian IV, king of Denmark, was at first reluctant to cede any land to Sweden. However, once Bogusław's Pomeranian army threatened his capital directly, he quickly agreed to hand over to Gustav Adolf's generals all lands that the Swedes had taken.
In this way, there were only two enemies left before the protestant forces: the Rhine Palatinate, and Cologne. The former's lands were guarded by strong garrisons as well as the large river Rhine - which left only the lands of the already defeated, but not yet conquered, Archbishop of Cologne, to be besieged. The campaign there lasted until the beginning of 1621, when, at last, most of Westphalia was ceded to Pomerania.
As such, the first stage of the grand war of religion in Germany concluded. Pomeranian, Bohemian and Swedish courts turned to administering and assimilating of the newly gained lands, while the Habsburgs and their allies tried to lick their wounds after the severe defeat they suffered at the hands of the Protestants. One could easily sense that the war was not yet over - the catholics were taking increasingly aggressive steps against the northern alliance, which came to a climax in late 1623, when the mercantilist government of Austria embargoed protestant merchants (effectively - all Protestants) from entering the city of Vienna. This move was received icily by the North - and no more than half a year later, once the forces had again been assembled, in July of 1624, a formal declaration of war was sent to Vienna.
***
Shorter, but still there!
Another update will be here either within the weekend or soon afterwards. Enjoy!